The present invention relates to door assemblies for vehicle having one or more of such doors, preferably on the sides of the vehicle, and preferably hinged about a substantially vertical axis.
It has been widely recognized that a person involved in an automobile accident is in danger of being hurled out of the vehicle upon the door's opening due to the force of the accident impact. Upon a driver and/or passenger being hurled out of the vehicle, they may be injured, at times fatally, by contact with the pavement, or by being thrown into the path of an oncoming vehicle, or even by being crushed by the vehicle in which they were riding. This hazard is the direct cause of many injuries and deaths throughout the country.
Many proposals have been made by the prior art of methods and apparatus for preventing vehicle doors from opening in case of severe accidents. Note for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,468,392 and 3,431,998, both of which involve explosive driven bolts. Also note U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,479,767; 3,788,685 and 3,830,332.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,128 is directed to a safety latch mechanism for vehicle doors to prevent accidental opening of the doors, with the latching mechanism located at the vehicle hinge.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,228 is directed to a mechanism for locking a door to withstand side impacts, and involves the use of mating male and female members.
In the case of an accident, not only should a safety latch mechanism keep the vehicle doors from opening to such a degree that the driver or passengers therein could be hurled out of the vehicle, but the doors themselves must be readily opened by rescuers, so that seriously injured vehicle occupants can be readily removed therefrom. In spite of the serious effort that has been devoted by the prior art to solving the vehicle door opening hazard, no door locking device now on the market will reliably protect the driver and pasengers from being cast out of the vehicle, and also allow rescuers to readily open the vehicle door to remove the occupants of the vehicle therefrom.